All politicians are not bastards, say activist Indian youth
MUMBAI, INDIA – Indian youths under the age of 25 are the largest segment of the population, but they don't vote in numbers that match their demographic dominance.
Why?
Simple. They want better politicians.
The secretary of India’s Youth Congress, Ayub Sayed, opined that the “majority of Indians feel all politicians are bastards.”
“They’ve become very cynical because they feel that politicians are just a bunch of scoundrels," said Shayma Kulkarni, youth organizer for Action for Good Governance and Networking in India (AGNI). "They don’t even want to register themselves as voters, never mind the second step of actually going out and voting.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau's International Data, almost half (48.3 percent) of the population in India is below the age of 25 years old. By contrast, in the U.S., this figure is only about a third (34.1 percent), and is dropping due to the rapidly aging population.
Surveys conducted by the Center for the Study of Developing Studies found that election turnouts for youth are consistently two to three percentage points lower than the general average of around 55-60 percent from 1996 to 2004. In the state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) and Population Council found that of those 20-years-old and above, 68 percent of young men and 57 percent of young women had voted as of 2008.
The rate is even lower among urban city dwellers, whose voting rates of 57 percent for men and 47 percent for women is a full 10 percentage points below their rural counterparts.
AGNI wants to change this and has started a drive on college campuses to register students in person. Kulkarni said she wanted to fight the political ennui of disappointed youths.
AGNI tries to reduce the bureaucracy and formal procedures that often inhibit many first time young voters. Conrad Rege, a student at the prestigious St. Xavier's College in South Mumbai, agreed that this is a barrier.
"Youth who want to make a change, those who want to actively involve themselves and make a change, end up getting frustrated because the system is very rigid," Rege said. "There’s too much nepotism and red tape-ism."
“The rich educated youth can afford to be apolitical, can afford to not vote, and be fine with it," said Usman Jawed, a colleague of Conrad’s at St. Xavier's. "A lot of rich educated youth can easily disregard it and do disregard it.
"Voting is not the word they latch on to. It’s politics. Because politics is a dirty word in India," said Jawed.
“Politics" is stigmatized and dirty, considered the business of other people, not the business of the elite, who vote in especially low percentages, said Jawed.
Accountability is also considered to be lacking. Saahil Bijliwalal, a law student in north Mumbai, said he felt that “democracy is just one side of the thing.
"The second thing is 'OK, you voted for this guy, now let’s see what is he doing and let’s make him accountable for it.” Bijliwalal doesn’t see this happening today.
However, there is hope from some quarters. Bhuresh Barot became involved in politics when the Jago (Awake) Party first opened in Mumbai and advocated for youth issues like education and employment.
"In many parts of the country, many young leaders have taken power in politics. They have fought elections and they have won elections," Barot said. "They have done something good. It is becoming clear that if the educated youth get involved, then they can do something.”
Leaders of the youth wing of the ruling Congress Party in Mumbai were similarly inspired by young politicians such as Rahul Gandhi, the 38-year-old son of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Local leaders like the 29-year-old Member of Parliament Nitesh Rane, who founded an organization called Swabhimaan that has helped bring out the youth vote, have also have had a significant impact on giving youth a voice.
Shayma believed that “many of the politicians have not realized we are a very young country in terms of the voting age.”
Jawed described the youth sector of India's population as "a repository of huge energy."
"It can really … pull them into a unified struggle against something.”
MORE RESOURCES:
• http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/region.php
• http://blogs.thehindu.com/elections2009/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/youthturnout.pdf
• http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/2009PGY_YouthInIndiaExecSummMa.pdf